Violent Trio

 

 (themoviedatabase)

THE VIOLENT ONES-1967-In New Mexico, after a young woman (Melinda Marx; daughter of Groucho) is raped and beaten, embattled sheriff Manuel Vega (Fernando Lamas, who also directed) picks up 3 men (Aldo Ray, Tommy Sands and David Carradine) as suspects. When the girl dies, the town demands a lynching. He and his deputy (Ned Romero) try to quell the tension. For some reason, after the town gathers for trouble, the sheriff decides to handle things his own way. He chains the 3 suspects together to take them to another town across the desert. Unfortunately, they crash, fight each other and are chased by a gang led by the dead girl's father. In the end the real killer is exposed. 

Since Lamas directed, there's no one to tell him when to stop shouting. It's an ok TOUCH OF EVIL knock off, I guess. With Lisa Gaye as a nurse and Rudolfo Acosta.

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Happy New Year!

 

 (npr.org)

RUBBER-2010-A rubber tire rises from the desert to kill people in a small desert town. It kills by blowing victims' heads up, using telekinesis. It also seems to stalk a woman. Through the whole movie a bunch of people watch the action from afar using binoculars. Later they are all poisoned except for a guy in a wheelchair (Wings Hauser). This is a kind of anything goes horror parody that goes on for a long time. One character Lieutenant Chad (Stephen Spinella) shows up at the beginning to inform the audience that the movie is a "homage to no reason", and writer/director Quentin Dupieux (from France) pretty much succeeds.

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Velvet Vamp

 

 (imdb)

THE VELVET VAMPIRE-1971-Diane LeFanu (Celeste Yarnall; BEAST OF BLOOD (1970)) is a vampire who kills a would-be rapist (Robert Tessier) then sets her sights on a young couple Lee (Michael Blodgett; BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1970)) and Susan (Sherry Miles). They go to Diane's house in the desert. After having a strange abstract dream, Susan is terrorized by a bat when the trio explores an abandoned mine. Then while Diane seduces Lee, Susan is bitten by a snake. Diane saves her. Lee and Diane have sex but the next day he wants to leave. After killing Lee Diane runs to put the bite on Sue but she escapes (in only her bikini) to the city. Diane follows her. Somehow Sue gets some hippies to help her destroy Diane but it doesn't turn out well. There's some terrible cliché acting. 

Director/co-scripter Stephanie Rothman started out working as an associate producer for Roger Corman (one of TVV's producers) on things like QUEEN OF BLOOD and VOYAGE TO THE PREHISTORIC PLANET, later working on the infamous BLOOD BATH (1966). Her husband Charles S. Swartz co-wrote and co-produced THE VELVET VAMPIRE.

 (imdb)

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 (imdb)

TOMORROW WE LIVE-1942-Julie (Jean Parker) lives in the desert with her cafe owner father Pop (Emmett Lyn). He's involved in some shady deals with a club owner known as "The Ghost" (Ricardo Cortez). He doesn't like Bob (William Marshall), Julie's soldier boyfriend. One night Pop goes to the cafe and demands Julie stop seeing Bob. It turns out The Ghost is blackmailing dad because he's a wanted criminal. After The Ghost kills Pop at the cafe, he runs into trouble with rival gangster Kohler (Frank Hagney). 

A weird compact little film noir by Edgar Ulmer with an interesting performance by Cortez. Star Parker was later in Ulmer's BLUEBEARD.

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Them!

 

THEM!-1954-In this classic 1950's "giant bug" science fiction story giant ants are breeding in the New Mexico desert (9 years after a nuclear bomb blast) and killing humans. After police Sargent Ben Peterson (James Whitmore) finds a shell shocked little girl (Sandy Descher) wandering around and his partner is killed, FBI agent Robert Graham (James Arness) is called in. So is ant expert Dr. Medford (Edmund Gwen) and his daughter Patricia (Joan Weldon). They discover and kill one of the ants and later with the help of General O'Brien (Onslow Stevens) and Major Kibbee (Sean McClory) the army wipe out the colony. 

Unfortunately a couple of queens escape and take up residence in the sewer drains of LA. A frantic search ensues and along the way many familiar characters show up (Fess Parker, John Beradino, Willis Bouchey, Olin Howland, Richard Deacon, Ann Doran, Dean Fredericks, William Schallert, Dub Taylor, Dick Wessel, Harry Wilson and of course Leonard Nimoy.

The finale in a crumbling section of sewer, where besides destroying the nests, they must rescue two boys trapped there.

Arguably, this is the best giant insect mov-ie. It's very forward, scientific and has solid acting. Director Gordon Douglas had a varied and interesting career, making entries into "The Great Gildersleeve", Our Gang shorts, ZENOBIA (with Oliver Hardy and Harry Langdon), ZOMBIES ON BROADWAY (with Brown & Carney) be-fore THEM! Later in the '60's, he made bigger budgeted movies for Bob Hope, Sinatra and Jerry Lewis, IN LIKE FLINT, two Tony Rome detective movies (also with Sinatra), the missing link drama SKULLDUGGERY, THE CALL ME MR. TIBBS and SLAUGHTER'S BIG RIPOFF! Some res-ume!

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The Mummy!

 

THE MUMMY'S HAND-1940-An Egyptian high priest of Karnak (Eduardo Ciannelli) summons his fez wearing son Ab (George Zucco, round of applause) to an ancient tomb. Before he dies he tells the tale of princess Ananka who died and how grieving lover Kharis stole the secret of eternal life from Isis (tana leaves) but was caught and buried alive. For 3000 years Kharis has protected his former lover's tomb. Dad also gives son the lowdown on tana leaves and how they control the mummy. (3 keeps him alive, 9 brings him to life, more than 9 is a no-no). In Cairo, Steve Manning (Dick Foran) and Babe Jenson (Wallace Ford) meet magician Kim Sullivan aka The Great Solvani (Cecil Kellaway). Manning is an archaeologist who convinces Sullivan to invest in his expedition to discover Ananka's tomb. This upsets his daughter Marta (Peggy Moran) who had planned to go back to the US with Dad. Since Ab had visited her earlier to warn her of con-men she naturally suspects Steve and Babe. In the desert they find "The tomb of the seven jackals". They open up a sarcophagus but only find a male mummy. Ab brings the mummy (Tom Tyler) to life and the first victim is Dr. Petrie (Charles Trowbridge). Ab plans on killing everyone except Marta who Kharis kidnaps. Ab plans on making her his immortal high priestess. Babe puts a crimp in Ab's plans by shooting him. Steve finds Marta and sets Kharis on fire before he can drink his tana leaves. 

This sequel to THE MUMMY with Boris Karloff is the best and most entertaining of the sequels that followed. 

Journeyman director Christy Cabanne got his start in 1914 and was also a screenwriter and occasional actor. A few years later he directed SCARED TO DEATH (1947), Bela Lugosi's only color film.

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Ants!

PHASE IV-1974-In a geodesic dome in the Arizona desert, two scientists Lesko (Michael Murphy) and Hubbs (Nigel Davenport) investigate the local ant population that seem to be changing their food patterns and building monoliths out of sand. They are actually developing into intelligent and poisonous ants who could be really more than a bother at the next family picnic. The duo get trapped in their lab (along with a local girl named Kendra (Lynne Frederick)) when the insects assert their power. After Hubbs gets bitten he goes crazy and hunts for the queen. He becomes ant bait. Later Kesko goes after the queen himself but fails. He and Kendra seem to become evolved “slaves” for the new invaders. 

This interesting British-American co-production is the only film directed by Saul Bass, the graphic designer known for his credit sequences in films. The exterior scenes were actually filmed in Kenya, while the interiors were done at Pinewood studios in England. Some critics found it too “vague”. It was written by Mayo Simon who'd written the screenplay for MAROONED several years earlier and later created TV's THE MAN FROM ATLANTIS.

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'70's Cult Film

VANISHING POINT-1971-Former demolition driver (and cop) Kowalski (Barry Newman) has to deliver a 1970 Dodge Challenger he picked up in Colorado to San Francisco. He makes a bet with blind underground DJ Supersoul (Cleavon Little) that he can make it in 15 hours. Kowalski has several car chases with the local police and becomes a real wanted man while Supersoul guides him on the radio. Kowalski has flashbacks, beats up two gay would be robbers, meets a naked woman on a motorcycle (Gilda Texter) and an old snake hunter (Dean Jagger). Thrown in is a desert revival run by Severn Darden whose singers are played by Delaney and Bonnie (with Rita Coolidge, David Gates and Ted Neeley). Paul Koslo and Robert Donner are cops. Val Avery appears uncredited in a flashback and John Amos (also uncredited) gets beat up by some white guys.

This anti-establishment cult film is a little dated and not for everyone but I enjoyed. It was directed by Richard C. Sarafian who also  made MAN IN THE WILDERNESS the same year. Screenwriter Guillermo Cabrera Infante wrote WONDERWALL previously.

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